§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will estimate the cost of increasing, per student, funding in public sector advanced education to the same level as that in universities.
§ Mr. BrookeDifferences in the financial mechanisms, circumstances and types of work done in the two sectors make comparisons of their funding levels difficult. Calculations based on a paper recently published by the Department ("Higher Education: Funding Comparisons Across Sectors") suggest that, on the Government's Cmnd. 9428 expenditure plans, recurrent public funding per arts-equivalent student in Great Britain universities in 1985–86 will be between 10 and 27 per cent. more than in public sector higher education in England, depending on the assumption made about the proportion of expenditure attributable in the universities to research as opposed to teaching. On this basis it would cost between £90 million and £240 million per year to increase public sector funding in England to the same level as that in universities.